


Mostly Harmless

by mystiri1



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Community: fic_promptly, Gen, Violence, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-04
Updated: 2011-03-04
Packaged: 2017-10-16 02:18:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/167353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mystiri1/pseuds/mystiri1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It used to annoy Elena that people didn't see a Turk when they looked at her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mostly Harmless

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Traxits](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traxits/gifts).



She resented it more than a little when she first signed up. She knew that she didn't look dangerous - petite, blonde, and pretty - and even among her fellow Turks, there was an assumption that she was only here because of her sister. It got worse, not better, when she was partnered with Tseng. A prime assignment, the kind of elite posting most Turks would happily kill for, and everybody assumed it was some kind of nostalgia on Tseng's part - that he accepted Elena as some sort of substitute for Anna, the partner he'd lost.

As if Tseng would ever let nostalgia compromise his judgement on the job.

She wanted to see him turn around and answer back to those accusations, to deny them, but he ignored them instead. And from Reno, she learned the value of misconceptions. With his encouragement, and Tseng's tacit approval, she began playing to them instead, and found it amusing just how easily people could overlook the uniform in favour of a pretty face and blonde hair. Even when they really should have known better.

Over the years, Elena started to find it more useful than not. She deliberately passed both information and disinformation to ShinRa's enemies as ordered, and watched them fall for it every time. She survived more than one battle simply because nobody expected her to put up a decent fight. And even now, when people looked at the the four Turks that were Rufus ShinRa's best weapons, they saw Reno, Rude and Tseng as dangerous while she was just the token girl.

It made her less of a target for retaliation than the others. People were always trying to kill Reno - either for work-related reasons or just because of his smart mouth - and Rude had received more than a few death threats over the years. Tseng was almost as favoured a target for assassination as Rufus - and just as likely to cause all perpetrators to end up very dead. But when people went after her, it was always with the idea of using her as leverage. Or bait.

It really does help to be underestimated, Elena thinks with vindictive satisfaction, a bullet to the brain taking out the third of her would-be kidnappers. If she had been considered a real threat, they never would have been stupid enough to untie her to 'have a bit of fun' first. They certainly would never have let her close enough to take one of their own guns.

Then again, maybe they would have, she muses as she gives one man an experimental kick to see if he's still breathing. His head lolls to the side, eyes blank and staring. One thing she has learned is that a pretty face makes men stupid. She checks the bodies for more weapons and ammunition, and is planning her next move when she hears gunfire outside.

Despite recognising the voice raised in cheerful disrespect, she levels her gun at the door and waits.

"Whoa, don't shoot me, Elena - it'll piss Tseng off. This is my third replacement uniform this month, and it's only the first week. You ready to go home?" Reno grins, tapping his rod against his shoulder. He doesn't bother checking the bodies, because he knows she's more than just a pretty face. She's not in need of rescuing, but it's nice to know she won't have to clean the mess up herself. If Reno's here, a team is already on the way.

"I want a toothbrush, and possibly a bath, one with scented bubbles." She heaves a dramatic sigh, and slides a sidelong glance at the redhead. "I feel... dirty."

Reno laughs at her posturing. "Sure thing, princess - but you'll have to make do with the locker room showers until you've made your report."

She sniffs. "Fine. But I hope you recognise what a great sacrifice it is." The clean-up crew are just arriving as they leave, still engaged in easy banter, and she doesn't miss the sympathetic looks they send her way, even though she doesn't appear to be at all traumatised by her experience. She doesn't really care, either.

Most people don't see a threat when they look at her, and that's the way she likes it.


End file.
